It has been known to provide a safety stop member on a floor surface of a cargo area of an emergency vehicle and have it configured to interfere with a safety bar mechanism on an emergency cot as the emergency cot is moved with its wheels engaging the floor surface out of the cargo area to stop the outward movement while at least one wheel on the emergency cot still rests on the floor surface. A representative prior art mechanism is illustrated in FIG. 1. The safety stop member 1 is anchored to the floor surface 2 by a plurality of fasteners schematically illustrated at 3. The safety stop member 1 has a vertically upright surface 4 which faces inwardly of the cargo area of the emergency vehicle and faces away from the access opening into the cargo area. A conventionally provided safety bar 6 on an emergency cot engages the surface 4 as the emergency cot is moved with its wheels engaging the floor surface 2 out of the cargo area to stop the outward movement while at least one wheel on the emergency cot still rests on the floor surface 2. Typically, the fasteners 3 are oriented between the surface 4 and a rear edge 7 of the cargo area as depicted in FIG. 1. A handle mechanism (not illustrated in FIG. 1) on the emergency cot facilitates a movement of the safety bar to a location where continued movement of the emergency cot out of the cargo area will be facilitated without the safety bar interfering with the safety stop member 1.
It is to be noted in FIG. 1 that the surface 4 is spaced from the rear edge 7 of the cargo area by a distance represented by “X”. This distance is typically in the range of 2 to 3.5 inches.
Emergency personnel are accustomed to entering the cargo area of an emergency vehicle through a rear access opening. A step area on top of a bumper is generally provided to facilitate the foot of the emergency personnel to be placed thereon during entrance and exit from the cargo area. There has been a desire on the part of emergency personnel to have present a wider step available to them as they enter and exit the cargo area. However, a wider step has created the problem of the collapsible base on the emergency cot engaging the step as the base is moved from its collapsed position to its deployed position. Thus, it is desirable to provide a safety stop member that will facilitate the continued use of standardized emergency cot configurations in situations where a wider step exists adjacent the access opening to the cargo area of an emergency vehicle.
Accordingly, it is an object of this invention to provide a safety stop member that is oriented on a floor surface of an emergency vehicle and is configured to interfere with a safety bar on an emergency cot as the emergency cot is moved with its wheels engaging the floor surface out of the cargo area to stop the outward movement of the emergency cot while at least one wheel on the emergency cot still rests on the floor surface.
It is a further object of the invention to provide a safety stop member, as aforesaid, wherein the safety stop member consists of an L-shaped member, a rearwardly facing surface of a vertical leg of the L being oriented generally flush with an edge at the access opening, the horizontal leg of the L being fastened to a floor surface of the cargo area by a plurality of fasteners.
It is a further object of the invention to provide a safety stop member, as aforesaid, wherein when the safety bar on an emergency cot engages the inwardly facing surface of the vertically upright leg of the L, at least one of the plural fasteners holding the safety stop member to the floor surface will be oriented on a side of the safety bar remote from the inwardly facing surface of the vertically upright leg.
It is a further object of the invention to provide a safety stop member, as aforesaid, wherein when the safety bar on an emergency cot engages the inwardly facing surface of the vertically upright leg of the L, all of the fasteners holding the safety stop member to the floor surface will be oriented on a side of the theoretical vertical center line of the safety bar remote from the inwardly facing surface of the vertically upright leg.